Orchestra did not win by six lengths, as Ruler Of The World did, which is one reason why he is still widely available at 20-1 to win at Epsom next month. Romsdal was closing fast in the straight and Orchestra had only a nose to spare at the line. At every other stage of the race, however, Orchestra looked like a talented, well-balanced colt with the class and attitude to run well at Epsom, and perhaps even to emulate Ruler Of The World, who started at 7-1 when successful in the Classic 11 months ago.

Aidan O'Brien, Orchestra's trainer, will send a platoon of colts with a potential Derby-winner's pedigree and profile to a series of trials over the next few days, while he is also responsible for Australia, the ante-post favourite for the Classic after his third-place finish in the 2,000 Guineas. Even O'Brien cannot be sure at this stage how many of them will earn a place in the Derby field, but Orchestra did more than enough to justify a trip to Surrey and with Joseph O'Brien, his father's stable jockey, expected to ride Australia, he could yet be ridden by Ryan Moore, who was in the saddle on Thursday.

Orchestra moved around Chester with conspicuous ease, leaving Moore in little doubt that he will act around Epsom too. "I was trying to be nice to him," Moore, who later completed a hat-trick on the day, said. "He's a big, strong horse with a good mind and he travelled beautifully through the race. This was his first run for a year and only his third start, so hopefully there's improvement in him and he has the makings of a nice horse."

Orchestra's stablemates, Century and Kingfisher, will run in Friday's Dee Stakes, won last year by the subsequent Irish 2,000 Guineas and Breeders' Cup Turf winner, Magician. Mekong River and Blue Hussar, who are by Galileo and Montjeu respectively, have both been declared to run in the Lingfield Derby Trial on Saturday, while Geoffrey Chaucer will line up for the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial at Leopardstown the following day. The Dante Stakes at York next Thursday, often the most competitive of the domestic trials, is also likely to feature at least one runner from Ballydoyle. Chester, though, is an important part of the cycle and as likely as any other track to attract a future star.

"[Chester is] a very important part of their education," Kevin Buckley, Coolmore Stud's UK representative, said. "We saw last year with Ruler Of The World and then Magician in the Dee that they went on to greater things.

"I think Aidan left something to work on [with Orchestra] and we were very happy with the way he went around here."

Noble Mission will never approach the achievements of his older brother Frankel, but he is two from two in 2014 after his defeat of Telescope in the Group Three Huxley Stakes confirmed the form last month's Gordon Richards Stakes. Noble Mission finished nine lengths clear of Telescope on testing ground at Sandown and had only two and a quarter to spare here, but he was 3lb worse off with the runner-up and still needed to improve to maintain his winning streak.

Noble Mission was pressed for the lead by Ektihaam in the early stages, but settled well once he had established himself at the front of the field and never looked likely to yield to Telescope in the final quarter-mile.

"At Sandown it was a bit more simple because he was a fit horse against horses who weren't quite so fit in testing ground," Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to Noble Mission's owner Prince Khalid Abdullah, said. "It was a natural tactic.

"In this case, having got it right last time there seemed no point in not doing the same, but he had to fight to get a lead and he was pushed a little wide. The good thing is that he was happy in front, and then he shook off the other horse, had a little breather and kicked on again."

The British Horseracing Authority said on Thursday that 39 jockeys will face charges over the controversial start to the Grand National in early April. An inquiry will be held to decide whether the jockeys are in breach of the rules of racing "in that they attempted to line up and/or take a position for the start before being instructed to do so by the starter".

Paul Struthers, the chief executive of the Professional Jockeys' Association, said the decision to lay charges against the riders was an "opportunity lost" by the Authority.

"It was and remains our belief that the appropriate course of action would have been a forward-looking, collegiate approach to the wider and ongoing issue of big-field jumps starts," Struthers said.

"We actively encouraged the BHA to embrace this approach and to grip this matter with more urgency than they have shown but to no avail. We believe the decision to lay any charges is an opportunity lost by the BHA. If the jockeys decide to contest the charges we trust that the BHA will allow it to be dealt with in a transparent manner and ensure the hearing is open to members of the media, even though this will inevitably lead to their officials and procedural failings being placed under the spotlight."

Jamie Stier, the BHA's director of raceday operations and regulation, said that managing the start of the Grand National is a "unique challenge" for all concerned.

"Having reviewed all of the available evidence and footage into the incident prior to the start of the Grand National," Stier said, "it is the view of BHA that 39 of the 40 riders in the race attempted to line up or take a position before being instructed to do so, which was before the off time of the race.

"If the disciplinary panel finds that this is the case then this would constitute an offence under the rules of racing."

Brendan Powell, whose mount Battle Group refused to race, is the only rider who does not face charges.